To Bee or not To Bee

Scott's Oriole in an Ocotillo in our yard

The weather is heating up, more birds and bees are evident in the desert, and the season is starting to feel very much like summer.  If it wasn't for a strong wind this morning, providing much-needed evaporative cooling, Becca and I would have felt a lot hotter than we did.  We were able to get in a long trek west of Tortugas, and we only saw a few other outdoor enthusiasts enjoying the natural environment.

Grackle grooming after bathing in our waterhole

Cleaning under a wing

Down to the lower desert

Becca spots a jackrabbit

Cholla blossoms

Fly-catching posture

Sheepish look

Bumblebee on an Ocotillo flower

Black-throated Sparrow

Belting out an aria

Tall, old Ocotillo

Rough Menodora

Trailing Four O'Clock

Prickly Pear

Pyrrhuloxia masquerading as an Ocotillo flower

White-thorn Acacia in foreground

Rose-like flower of the Prickly Pear

Prickly Pear blossom

White Tackstem

On the road west of Tortugas

Just starting out

Heading south

Wooly Paperflower

Mormon Tea flower

Flowers of a Mormon Tea plant

Interesting sky

Soaptree Yucca flower stalks

Very slightly different perspective

Plumed Crinklemat